THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

It’s round two for Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and a bill he co-sponsored that would let California farmers grow industrial hemp, which is used to make shampoo, cloth and other products.

The bill passed both the Assembly and Senate last year before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it. DeVore vowed to bring it back, and he and co-sponsor Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco, did just that.

The Assembly passed the bill late last week, and it’s now in the Senate, DeVore said Wednesday. He’ll have to work on getting more GOP support for it, he said, but he’s not worried about the governor.

“This is not an election year, and the thought is the governor would be able to give it a little more due consideration,” DeVore said. Last year Schwarzenegger was worried about appearing soft on crime, “even though, of course, hemp has nothing to do with drugs.”

Hemp is also used in the growing health food industry. To make sure he knows what he’s talking about, DeVore and his wife have experimented a little with hemp foods.

Governor’s budget

Schwarzenegger on Monday rolled out his May revision to the budget, which immediately met with criticism from GOP lawmakers, including DeVore and Huntington Beach state Sen. Tom Harman.

In January, the budget included about $143 billion in spending; the revisions bring the total budget to $145.8 billion — and they increase the deficit by at least $2 billion, according to a statement from DeVore’s office.

DeVore blasted the governor for expanding the deficit despite healthy tax revenues in recent years.

“The governor and Democrat lawmakers are living in denial while digging a deep fiscal hole that they will soon pass on to the taxpayers,” DeVore said in a statement.

Harman, meanwhile, criticized the budget for spending more than what he proposed a few months ago.

Organized golfers

While no decision has been made on the back nine holes of the Newport Beach Golf Course, supporters seem confident they’ve gotten their message across. When golfers learned last month that John Wayne Airport officials were considering a plan to turn the back nine — which is on county-owned land — into parking for the airport, they began blasting elected officials.

Now they’ve got formal support from the Newport Beach City Council, which voted to urge Orange County Supervisors to preserve the golf course.

All that remains is to convince Orange County Supervisors, and they’ve got one on their side. Supervisor John Moorlach, whose district includes the golf course, said he won’t support getting rid of the course — but he saidit’s not only up to him.

“I have no desire to pave over those nine holes,” he said. “On the other side of the coin, nothing has been brought to the supervisors yet and I’m not going to tell a department head how to run his shop.”

Conservative Speaker

A talk by controversial political writer Andrew Sullivan will wrap up the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation’s 2007 speaker series on Friday and Saturday at the central library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Sullivan is a conservative columnist for Time magazine, former editor-in-chief of The New Republic, and author of the recently published “The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get it Back.”

Sullivan will talk about his new book at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $40 and $25, respectively. For information or tickets call (949) 548-2411 or visit www.nbplfoundation.org.

New on the block

Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell has a new press secretary as of this week. Last week Myal Greene, who handled media in the congressman’s D.C. office, not only left Campbell’s employ last week, he left the Hill.

In an e-mail, Greene announced he’ll be heading to Rwanda to work for World Relief, a Christian service organization that helps refugees, victims of human trafficking and other people in crisis around the world.

Taking over for Greene in Campbell’s office is Vartan Djihanian, a native of Glendale, who has worked for former Rep. Jim Rogan and Santa Clarita Rep. Buck McKeon. Djihanian started Monday.

He knew of Campbell from the congressman’s days as a state legislator, he said. “I came out and walked precincts for him during the special election in 2006,” Djihanian said. “He’s a solid conservative. We share many of the same ideological values, so I’m excited to be on board here.”